Knitting machine



July 16, 1940. VA V, CLARKE 5 AL I 2,208,070

KNITTING MACHINE Filed Jan. 5, 1938 7 sheets-sheet 1 Fig. 1.

July 16, 1940. A. v. CLARKE El AL 2,208,070

KNITTING MACHINE Filed Jan. 5, 1938 7 Sheets-Sheet 2 July 16, 1940. v, LA 'ETAL 2,208,070

- KNITTING MACHINE Filed Jan. 5, 1958 7 Sheets-Sheet 3 i F ig. 3.

y 15, 1940- A. v. CLARKE. ET AL 2,203,070

KNITTING MACHINE Filed Jan. 5, 1938 7 Sheets-Sheet 4 RTTORNEY5 July 16, 1940.

v. CLARKE ET AL. 8,07

KNITTING'MACHINE Filed Jan. 5, 1953- 7 Sheets-Sheet 5 I 2? LL.

ATTORNEYJ- v July 16, 1940.

A. v. CLARKE El L 2,208,070

KNITTING MACHINE Filed Jan. 5, 1938 7 Sheets-Sheet 6 Fig 6.

Inventors fllbert 'lllarke, .fl thur E. Clarke fllbertL. Clarke,

v Attorney July 16, 1940. v, CLARKE ET AL 2,208,070

KNITTING MACHINE 1 Filed Jan. 5, 1938 7 Sheets-Sheet 7 Inventors filbert 1 Clarke, flrthurEClarke and .fllbert L. Clarice,

y Attorney Patented July 16, 1940 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE KNITTING MACHINE Application January 5, 1938, Serial No. 183,540 In Great Britain January 6, 1937 14 Claims.

This invention is for improvements in or relating to circular knitting machines, and is particularly but not exclusively concerned with improvements in or relating to the machine that is the subject of co-pending patent application No.

175,943, filed November 22, 1937, by Albert V. Clarke.

' As viewed from one aspect the present invention provides a circular knitting machine having a change-speed gear in the drive for the needle cylinder or cam box, as the case may be.

More particularly, however, the present invention provides a circular knitting machine, having a needle bed and relatively movable cams or other operating means, a second instrument bed for an arcuate or circular series of instruments (e. g. needles) arranged to co-operate with the needles of the first bed, relatively movable cams or other means for operating said instruments, driving means for effecting relative movement between each bed and its associated operating means in knitting and for moving the second bed into and out of register with the first bed, and means for effecting a reduction (as contrasted with theknitting speed) in the driving speed for moving the second needle bed. This speed change may be effected by employing a variable speed driving device such-as a variable speed electric motor, but is best efiected by incorporating a changespeed gear in the drive. An epicyclic gear is preferred, but other types of change-speed gearing may be utilised. Desirably an automatic control (e. g. operated from the drum or chain of the machine) is provided for the speed changes.

More specifically, means may be provided for driving at three speeds, viz:a high speed for circular knitting, a lower speed for reciprocating knitting in the case of a machine arranged to knit by rotation and by reciprocation and/or for other operations such for example as transferring in the case of an opposed cylinder machine, and a still lower speed for moving the second bed.

It is to opposed cylinder machines that the invention is chiefly applicable, and by way of example the invention will be described as applied to a machine of this type havingthe novel features set out in the aforesaid co-pending patent application. This embodiment of the invention is shown in the accompanying drawings, which Figure 1 is a front elevation of the machine, the top cylinder being shown displaced,

Figure 2 is a side elevation, on a larger scale, showing part of the driving mechanism.

Figure 3 is a vertical section, on a still larger scale, through an epicyclic change-speed gear incorporated therein.

Figure 4 is a view looking in the direction of the arrow 4 in Fig. 3.

Figure 5 is a plan view of a further part of 5 the driving mechanism.

Figure 6 is a perspective view of certain of the timing mechanism shown in Figs. 1 and 2; and

Figure 7 is a diagrammatic perspective view of the gearing for driving the cylinders.

In the ensuing description the same reference numerals are employed as in the specification of the said co-pending application.

The machine to which the invention as illustrated is applied is a seamless hose or half hose machine having rotating superimposed cylinders I0, I I, stationary cam boxes (although the invention may be applied to a rotating cam box machine) and double-ended needles arranged to be transferred from one cylinder to the other by sliders, and the bottom cylinder II is driven by bevel gearing while the top cylinder I0 is driven in synchronism therewith by means of a vertical drive shaft l6 geared to the two cylinders by gears I4, [5, l4 and I5. These parts, being well understood, need no elaborate description or illustration herein. In contradistinction to prior practice in machines of the opposed cylinder type, the top: cylinder l0 (1. e. the second instrument bed aforesaid) is arranged to swing about the axis of the said drive shaft [6 (which shaft is housed in the vertical casing I40) into and out of register with the bottom cylinder II and in such movement a latch guard ring 45 is swung out of and into register with the bottom cylinder II. This latch guard ring carries a plurality of interchangeable yarn feeders 43 and when it is in operative position these feeders are brought into operative association with patterningmechanism 49, 50, controlled from drum 89, for selecting them. Hence when the top cylinder is in the'inoperative position the machine is adapted to knit plain fabric on the bottom cylinder and is equipped to pattern the said fabric by yarn changes with equal facility as in an ordinary 45 plain knitting machine.

In order to permit of this movement of the top cylinder into and out of register with the bottom cylinder the top plate l3 of the top needle cylinder I0 is supported upon and is arranged to 50 slide over a ring I1 which is co-axial with the vertical drive shaft I6, and plungers or other catches are provided for locking the top cylinder in each of its two extreme positions.

In that form of the aforesaid machine with which the present invention is concerned the top cylinder i0 is moved into and out of operative position by power means and it may be men tioned that, because when viewed in plan the direction of rotation of the cylinders is anticlockwise and the direction of movement of the top cylinder 50 to inoperative position is anticlockwise also, the top cylinder is moved into the operative position during rotation but is moved to the inoperative position during the clockwise swing of the bottom cylinder l I in reciprocation. To effect the necessary movement a temporary restraint is placed, by means indicated at 26, 27, upon the movement of the top cylinder within its cam box E2. The various controls forgoverning movement of the needles, for selecting the feeders #33, for the-initiation and termination of said temporary restraint, for trapping and cutting mechanism, and for locking the top cylinder in either position are not shown'in any detail, for they form no part of the present invention, but the drums 89 and M9 operating them are shown in Fig. 1.

In superimposed cylinder machines the vertical drive shaft !6 usually rotates at twice the speed of the cylinders. For the purposes of this invention the gearing is such that the drive shaft l6 rotates at 1 times the speed of the cylinders so that the angular speed of movement of the top cylinder toand from the inoperative p0sition is 1 times the angular speed of the bottom cylinder H about its own axis. Even so, at the ordinary knitting speed which is conveniently in the order of 180 R. P. M. this movement is more rapid than is desirable and therefore means are provided for effecting a reduction of the driving speed for moving the top cylinder l0, and the appropriate speed changes are controlled by the control mechanism of the machine.

In the preferred construction evolved for this purpose the main shaft 58, which carries a bevel gear iiil' driving the bottom cylinder, is driven through equal gears 81, 88 from a lay shaft 6|, see Fig. '7, and on this lay shaft there is an epicyclic change-speed gear E (Fig. 3). This lay shaft 6| carries a sleeve 62 freely rotatable thereon and formed with a sun wheel 63 at one end;

at the other end of the sleeve there is a small Freely rotatable upon the lay shaft bl there is a disc 68 carrying a stub or journal 39 upon which is mounted a planet pinion H3 meshing with the sun, wheel 63 and, fixed to the planet pinion, is a smaller planet gear ll. Ihis latter meshes with a sun wheel 12 keyed to the lay shaft 6!. At the remote side of the disc from the gears just mentioned there is a ratchet wheel 113, also keyed to the lay shaft 6 I, while upon the latter there is a sliding bluff 14 which bluff consists of a drum having a portion of its periphery cut away so that, according to its axial position on the lay shaft, it either covers or uncovers the ratchet teeth and either permits a pawl 15 on the disc 68 to engage therewith or prevents it from engaging. Looking upon the right hand end of the lay shaft in Fig. 3 (as in Fig. 4) the direction of rotation of the belt pulley 65 is clockwise and the pawl points in an anti-clockwise direction. Additionally the periphery of the disc is provided with a projection 16 with which a catch H, see Fig. 2, is adapted to be engaged to prevent rotation of the disc in a clockwise direction.

Except when the machine is idle or is being turned by hand, the belt pulley '65 is dogged to the sleeve 62. For direct drive employed in rotational knitting and desirably giving a cylinder speed of 180 R. P. M., the bluff 1G is withdrawn, as in Fig. 3, and the pawl '55 is permitted to engage with the ratchet 13. Hence the epicyclic gear rotates as a solid unit. For reciprocatory knitting as in the production of the heel and toe pouches, and for transferring selected doubleended needles from one cylinder to the other to change the structure of the fabric during rotational knitting, a lower speed is requiredz-desirably approximately half. This lower speed is obtained by blufiing the ratchet l5, and restraining the disc from rotation by means of the catch H. For swinging the top cylinder a still lower speed is required and this is obtained by releasing the disc; the epicyclic gear is therefore rendered inoperative and the belt pulley 65 drives the small pinion 64. This pinion $4 is connected by an idler 18 to a large pinion '19 on shaft 88 below the lay shaft, and this shaft is in turn connected by a pinion I36, see Fig. 7, to the large gear 8! that carries the crank 82 for oscillating the quadrant 83 which is carried by a shaft 83. The said gear 8i also meshes with the gear 84 fixed on the lay shaft 6!. The quadrant 83 meshes with the pinion 85 freely rotatable upon the main shaft 69. Upon this main shaft there is a dog clutch 86. see Fig. 5, by which either the pinion 85 or the gear Bl previously mentioned (by which the main shaft Gil is arranged to be driven from the lay shaft 6!) may be dogged to the main shaft according to whetherrotation or reciprocation is required. This dog clutch is moved by means of a lever 86 and a cam track on the drum 89.

It is an important feature of the invention that the large gear 19 is provided with a free wheel device. This is because when the knitting speed is reduced for transferring or reciprocatory knitting the shaft 8%] on which the large gear is mounted tends to rotate in the same direction as said gear but at a higher speed. This free wheel device, which'may be of conventional form, as for example, a one way ball or roller clutch, is indicated at 19' in Fig. 7 and operates to transmit the rotational drive from the gear 19 to the shaft 80 only in the anti-clockwise direction when looking on that end of said shaft that is shown at the left of Fig. 7.

It will be understood that during rotational knitting the drive is transmitted from lay shaft 6! to main shaft by way of gears 88, 81, the epicyclic gear rotating as a solid unit. For transferring needles the drive is likewise transmitted by said gears 88 and 81, the carrier disc 68 being held from rotation so that a speed reduction is effected in the epicyclic gear, For reciprocating knitting also, said disc is held stationary but the drive is transmitted from shaft El, by way of gear 84, to the gear 8| carrying the crank for the quadrant and from the quadrant 83 to main shaft 6!] by way of gear 85, said gear 85 instead of gear 81 being clutched to shaft 6 I. For swinging the cylinder l0 the drive is transmitted from pulley 65 by pinion 04, the idler I8, gear I9, free wheel device I9 (which transmits the drive), shaft 80, pinion I36, crank gear 8|, quadrant 83, gear and main shaft 60 if the swing is to the inoperative position; if the swing is to the operative position then from the crank gear 8| the drive is transmitted to main shaft 60 by way of gears 84, 88 and 81. Both modes of driving from the crank gear 8| result in the same speed of shaft 60.

In effect, there is combined, with the epicyclic gear, countershaft gearing (64, I9, 80 and 8|) and quadrant mechanism (or its mechanical equivalent) and the shaft 60 is driven optionally either direct (through gears 88, 81) or through the epicyclic gear and/or through the countershaft gearing. For rotational knitting it is driven direct. For transferring it is driven through the epicyclic gear. For reciprocatory knitting it is driven through the epicyclic gear and the countershaft gearing including the quadrant. For swinging the cylinder the epicyclic gear is omitted and the main shaft 60 is driven, according to the direction of swing desired, either through the countershaft gearing including the quadrant mechanism or through said gearing excluding said mechanism.

The sliding bluff I4 and the catch II are operated by control surfaces mounted on a disc 90 at the end of the drum shaft 9|. TWo series of control surfaces are provided, an inner series and an outer series; the outer series consists of three projections 92 protruding from the face of the disc, see Figs. 1 and 2, and arranged to engage a pin 93 at the end of a lever 84 and to rock that lever about a vertical pivot I94. This lever engages with the bluff I4 and therefore slides it along the lay shaft 8|. The inner series consists of two projections 05, Fig. 2, adapted to engage a pin .96 at the end of another lever 91 and to rock that lever about a horizontal axis I91; this lever is integral With the catch 11 and therefore moves it to hold the disc I6 or to free it. Additionally, upon the first lever 94 there is a ramp 94' so arranged that when that lever 94 is moved by one of the projections of the outer series it depresses the end of the other lever 91, the arrangement being such that whenever the bluff I4 is moved to permit the pawl I5 to engage the ratchet wheel I3 the catch 11 is moved to free the disc. The arrangement is also such that throughout the major portion of the period during which the ratchet wheel is bluffed the catch TI is engaged with the disc 68 but is released at appropriate intervals by the projections of the second series.

The movements imparted to these levers by the projections on the disc are of course co-related with the movements imparted to the dog clutch 86 upon the main shaft 60 because while the lowest speed is necessary during rotation to move the top cylinder into operative position it is also necessary during oscillation of the bottom cylinder to move the top cylinder to the inoperative position. The disc 90, which is fixed to the drum shaft 9|, is provided with ratchet teeth I90 and is racked by means of the pawl I02, see Figs. 2 and 6. This pawl comprises a part that is slidable in a member I03 pivoted about the axis of the crank 82. Secured to said crank 82 and to the gear 8| there is a cam I04 which propels the pawl I02 in the member I03 so that the pawl pushes the ratchet disc 90 round instead of hooking it around, the inner end of the pawl being biased into engagement with the cam I04 by a spring 202 The racking of the disc is controlled by a bell-crank-lever I III cooperating with the chain I00, which chain is mounted on a sprocket I05 at the outer end of the drum shaft 9| where it is readily accessible. The drum I89 itself is racked by a pawl I08 connected to the quadrant shaft 83' and cooperating with a drum ratchet IIl'I. The chain is racked by a like pawl I08 which cooperates with a chain ratchet I09. Alongside said chain ratchet I09 there is a bluffing disc I I0 for ensuring that the chain is not racked at every motion on the pawl I081 A handle I32, located at the front, is provided for turning the machine by hand. The said handle is secured to the front end of the horizontal shaft I33 which is geared by bevel gearing I34 and I35, see Figs. 1 and 2, to the shaft 80, which shaft has a constant direction of rotation. In order that the handle shall not rotate while the machine is being driven by power a free wheel device indicated at I31, see Fig. 7, is included in the bevel gear I35, which free wheel I3! is arranged to transmit motion from the handle I32 to the shaft 88. only when said handle is turned in a clockwise direction as viewed in Fig. 6.

We claim:

1. In a circular knitting machine, having a needle bed, relatively movable needle-operating means, a second instrument bed for an arcuate series of instruments arranged to cooperate with needles of the first bed, relatively movable instrument-operating means, driving means for effecting relative movement between each bed and the associated operating means in knitting, and power means for moving the second bed into and out of register with the needle bed, which machine is organised to knit with and without the instrument bed in operative association with the needle bed; means for driving the machine at a plurality of different speeds for knitting and for driving at a less speed for moving the instrument bed into and out of operative association.

2. In a circular knitting machine having a needle bed, relatively movable needle-operating means, an instrument bed for an arcuate series of instruments, relatively movable instrumentoperating means, and driving means for effecting relative movement between the beds and the associated operating means, wherein the instrument bed is displaceable into and out of operative association with the needle bed under power applied through said driving means; changespeed gearing for driving a plurality of different speeds driving knitting and at a still different speed for moving the instrument bed into and out of operative association.

3. In a circular knitting machine organized to knit by rotation and by oscillation, and having a needle bed, relatively movable needleoperating means, an instrument bed for an arcuate series of instruments, relatively movable instrument-operating means, and driving means for effecting relative movement between the beds and the associated operating means, wherein the instrument bed is displaceable into and out of operative association with the needle bed under power applied through said driving means; means for driving at three different speeds, viz:a high speed for rotation, a lower speed for oscillation, and a still lower speed for displacing the instrument bed.

4. In a circular knitting machine of the opposed cylinder type arranged to knit upon needles ofone end, optionally, upon needles of both cylinders and to transfer needles from one cylin- 75 der to the other, and wherein one cylinder is displaceable into and out of register with the other under power applied by a driving connection that also transmits the power for said cylinder to knit; means for driving said cylinder at three different speeds:a high speed for knitting, a lower speed for transferring, and a still lower speed for displacing said cylinder.

5. In a circular knitting machine organised to knit by rotation and by oscillation and having a needle bed, relatively movable needle-operating means, an instrument bed for an arcuate series of instruments, relatively movable instrument-operating means, and driving means for effecting relative movement between the beds and the associated operating means, wherein the instrument bed is displaceable into and out of operative association with the needle bed under power applied through said driving means; the combination with a power transmission member that rotates during rotational knitting and oscillates during oscillatory knitting and transmits the power for displacing the needle bed, and for knitting, of means for driving said member at three different angular Speeder-ea high speed for rotational knitting, a lower speed for oscillatory knitting, and a still lower speed for displacing the cylinder.

6. In an opposed cylinder circular knitting machine wherein one cylinder is capable of displacement into and out of register with the other about a drive member for effecting relative movement between the cylinders and their cams while maintaining the driving connection unbroken, which machine is organised to knit fabric upon needles of said other cylinder while the first is displaced, and wherein needles are automatically transferable from one cylinder to the other, when said cylinders are in register, to vary the character or the knitted stitches, the power for knitting, transferring, and displacing the cylinder being transmitted by said drive member; means for driving said drive member at three different angular speeds viz:a high speed for rotational knitting, a lower speed for transferring, and a still lower speed for displacing the displaceable cylinder.

7. In a circular knitting machine having a needle bed, a bed for instruments cooperating therewith, operating means for needles and instruments, and driving means for effecting relative rotation and oscillation between the beds and their associated operating means in knitting, said driving means rotating and oscillating for n this purpose, in which machine the instrument bed is displaceable, under power transmitted by the driving means, into and out of operative association with the needle bed which displacement is effected in one direction during rotation of said driving means and in the other direction during a swing in the oscillation of said means; means for driving said driving means at a less angular speed when displacing the instrument bed than in knitting.

8. In a knitting machine having a needle bed, relatively movable cams, an instrument bed for a series of instruments, instruments in said second bed for cooperating with the needles, relatively movable means for operating said instruments, and driving means for effecting relative movement between the needle bed and its cams and between the instrument bed and the instrument-moving means, wherein the instrument bed is displaceable into and out of operative association with the needle bed under power applied through said driving means, the combination of a drive member for driving said driving means, a primary driving member, a change-speed gear interposed between said primary member and said drive member and giving a plurality of ratios, a speed-reducing gear, and controls for said gears whereby the drive is transmitted from the primary member to the drive member optionally by' any of the following routes (a) through the change-speed gear, (b) through the speed-reducing gear, or (0) through both.

9. In the combination claimed in claim 8, a device for converting rotary into oscillatory movement, and means whereby the drive by route (a) is transmitted optionally at one ratio, excluding said device, or at another ratio and through said device, and the driveby route ('b') is through said device.

10. In the combination claimed in claim 8, a device for converting rotary into oscillatory movement, and means whereby the drive by route (a) is transmitted optionally at one ratio, excluding said device, or at another ratio and through said device, and the drive by route (1)) is through said device, the gears being so chosen that routes (b) and (0) result in the same angular speed of the drive member.

11. In a knitting machine, the combination of a primary driving member, a drive member, driven by said primary member, for driving the machine, said drive member being capable of rotation and oscillation, a change-speed gear interposed between said members and giving a plurality of ratios, a speed-reducing gear, a device for converting rotary to recip-rocatory motion, and means for transmitting the drive from one said member to the other by any selected one of the following routes:(a) at one ratio through the change-speed gear; (b) at a lower ratio through said gear and through said device; (0) through the speed-reducing gear and said device; (d) through the change-speed gear and the speed-reducing gear.

12. In the combination claimed in claim 11, a free-wheel in the speed-reducing gear.

'13. The combination claimed in claim 11, wherein the change-speed gear is an epicyclic gear.

14. In a circular knitting machine, the combination with a needle bed, relatively-movable needle-operating means, an instrument bed for instruments cooperating with the needles, relatively-movable instrument-operating means, means for producing relative movement between each bed and its cooperating operating means, which means includes a rotatably-mounted driver for the instrument bed and cooperating means, and a mounting for said instrument bed and instrument-operating means upon which said bed and means'are displaceable under power applied by said driver out of and into operative association with the needle bed, said bed and operating means being displaceable in one direc- 

